Festival Of The Four Winds And Crown Pavilion Return To Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2's high-altitude Festival of the Four Winds is back for 2021, and ArenaNet has a few surprises in store for Tyrians. You can reach the Labyrinthine Cliffs via hot-air balloons in each capital city or by taking a boat from Lion's Arch.

Once there, it's time for the same exploration, races, and crystal-collecting long-time players have become accustomed to -- but at least we now have gliders to take out some of the sting that comes with missing a jump. A pair of "griffon challenge adventures" highlight the festival's features this year.

Running concurrently with the Festival of the Four Winds is the reopened Crown Pavilion in Divinity's Reach, where players can team up to challenge the Boss Blitz or rely on their solo skills in the Queen's Gauntlet.

The new meta-achievement reward this year is the Zephyrite Traveling Boots, while last year's award, the Sun-Blessed Vision, can be purchased from festival reward vendors.

Also in today's patch: The Twisted Marionette's public mode makes its return, kicking off every two hours in the Eye of the North, and there's a new achievement, the Goldclaw Holiday Collection, that is meant to "encourage discovery of a hidden series of festival-themed novels, each available only during their associated festival."

Finally, if you're still using an old version of Windows, you should know that the game's client "has been deprecated on Windows XP and Windows 32-bit to make way for Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons and DX11." Learn more about today's update on the festival landing page or in the patch notes in the Guild Wars 2 forums.